Deputies ticket drivers who don't stop for school buses

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office has conducted operations this school year that have resulted in citing several drivers for illegally passing school buses displaying the stop signal.

KATIE KUSTURASTAFF WRITER

The blinking lights and displayed stop sign aren't just a suggestion for drivers to wait while school buses drop off children — it's state law, and Volusia County sheriff's deputies are cracking down on delinquent drivers.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the most recent operation by the local agency, eight drivers were ticketed for illegally passing stopped school buses, 181 traffic citations for other infractions were issued and two misdemeanor arrests were made, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said in a news release.

Since starting the operation about a month into the school year, deputies have cited more than 20 drivers for illegally passing school buses.

“It happens every day,” Greg Akin, director of transportation for Volusia County Schools, said. “Distraction, normally, is the leading cause of that.”

Akin said the operations conducted by the Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies have helped bring the number of violators down.

Sheriff Ben Johnson said in the release there will be more operations throughout the school year to continue to bring attention to the issue.

“When it comes to student safety, one of the biggest dangers is from drivers who ignore the law and illegally pass stopped buses,” Johnson said. “Had our deputies not been there, any one of those violations could have resulted in tragedy.”

The law requires drivers to come to a complete stop when approaching a stopped school bus that has the stop signal displayed, and they cannot continue until the signal has been withdrawn. Drivers who violate the law can incur a fine of almost $300. However, vehicles traveling in the opposite direction of the stopped school bus can continue doing so if the roadway is divided by an unpaved space of at least 5 feet, a raised median or physical barrier.

While 27 students were hurt – two of them killed – in traffic accidents during the last school year while traveling to or from school, none of them were attributed to drivers not stopping for school buses.

Akin is thankful there have been no accidents of that type, but said safety for students who take the school bus is still a concern.

“Our goal is to still have everybody stop for that school bus while they load and unload,” Akin said.